Typing on a mobile communications device, especially a smartphone, employs a soft keyboard on the display. The keys of the keyboard are typically positioned below the field where the text message or email is being displayed. A user ordinarily holds the mobile communications device about fifteen (15) inches from their face when typing, most often with the typing being performed with the thumb(s) on smaller devices such as mobile phones; larger devices such as tablets may accommodate a user employing multiple fingers for typing, as on a hard keyboard. But human vision only has high definition vision in a very small region of the visual field. This high definition vision region is located at an angle subtended by about two degrees of arc from the eye. At a distance of fifteen (15) inches, this high definition region corresponds to the inner circle 10 with a diameter of about an inch on the display, as shown in FIG. 1. This inner circle 10 is referred to as foveal vision. The fovea is responsible for sharp central vision, which is necessary in humans for reading, watching, driving, and any activity where visual detail is of primary importance. There is a second region, defined by the annulus between inner circle 10 and the circumference of the outer circle 12. This second region is referred to as para-foveal vision, and is characterized by significantly reduced visual acuity. The area 14 outside of the circumference 12 is the region of peripheral vision, with even more reduction in visual acuity. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fovea_centralis and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EyeFixationsReading.gif.
A combination of factors leads to typing errors on soft keyboards, especially those keyboards presented on the display of a smartphone. One factor is the size and sensitivity of the character keys on the soft keyboard. The lack of distance between the keys in a particular row of the keyboard leads to inadvertent entry of the key horizontally adjacent to the target key. Another factor is that soft keyboards, unlike hard keyboards, do not provide the user with tactile feedback regarding the position of fingers or thumbs on the keyboard, thus touch typing (typing without looking at the keyboard) is impractical. Yet another factor is the distance between the message field and the soft keyboard. Since it is not possible for the human eye to achieve foveal vision of both the message field and the soft keyboard simultaneously, the user often cannot easily and promptly see that a key-entry error has been made in the message field while the user's vision is focused on the rows of the soft keyboard during typing.
What is needed to reduce typing errors on soft keyboards is a graphical user interface that allows the user to have foveal vision on the recently entered text characters at the same time as having foveal vision on the keyboard. Further, what is needed are keyboard designs that account for the use of thumbs as a primary means of character entry and that provide additional space between keys in rows so that inadvertent selection of a horizontally adjacent key does not occur. Further, what is needed are keyboard designs which provide audio or tactile feedback to the use regarding the relative position of the typing fingers or thumbs relative to the position of the soft keyboard, or which adjust the position or size of the soft keyboard based on the sensed position of the typing fingers or thumbs, or which provide specific audio or tactile feedback to the user based on the key that is typed.